Nutrition Expert Says Eating 5 Grams Extra of This Food Type Each Day Lowers Risk of Early Death

People do not need to make grand gestures or take thousands of steps to live a longer life. A nutrition expert has suggested eating one important food, only 5 grams more than before, to eliminate the risk of dying early. While it may seem like a negligible amount, the expert revealed that it can reduce the risks of premature death by 14%, which equals 14 years more if a person were to live until 100. On Instagram, professor Tim Spector (@tim.spector), an epidemiologist at King’s College London, advocated for greater intakes of fiber that have a range of benefits, from increased life span to reduced risks of heart disease. 

“If you have five grams of extra fiber every day, that will reduce your risk of heart disease and early death by 14%,” he said in the Zoe podcast snippet, which was viewed over 149,000 times. According to WebMD, fiber is a type of carbohydrate that the body fails to break down and instead adds to digestive health. It helps regulate blood sugar and keeps the appetite in check. Echoing similar sentiments, Spector, who is also the founder of Zoe Health, explained that fibers are hard to break into their component parts. It is only done by the feeding microbiota in our gut after the fiber reaches the colon and is broken down into smaller nutrients essential for the body. 

Fibers also help strengthen the immune system, in addition to longevity and fewer heart disease. “Just an extra five grams can make such a really big difference to your health. It’s probably one of the most important things we can all do so easily,” Spector noted. While a relatively easier thing to achieve, 90% of people reportedly are deficient in fiber, he mentioned in the post’s caption. “But just 5 extra grams a day, roughly one apple or half of a cup of lentils, can reduce your risk of heart disease and early death by up to 14%. That’s a remarkable effect for something so simple,” reiterated Spector, who has over 692,000 followers on the social media platform. 

Moreover, he encouraged people to reconsider their carbohydrate sources and swap them with more fiber-rich foods. We have all seen videos of fitness influencers and experts shunning carbs as the culprit, but Spector thoughtfully noted that carbohydrates are not to be blamed. Instead, it is the “kinds we’ve been eating” that influence a person’s health and well-being. “Today, around 80% of the carbohydrates in Western diets come from low-quality, refined sources. Ultra-processed foods have made it easy to fill up on sugar and starches stripped of fiber and nutrients,” the epidemiologist added. The results manifest as plummeting energy, poor gut health, and metabolic diseases.  

According to Harvard Health, the recommended dietary fiber intake in the U.S. is 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. Yet, most people fail to consume even half of the recommended amount. Another research by the World Health Organization in 2019 excavated through surveys and studies to find that people with higher intakes of fiber had lower risks of dying due to chronic diseases. Every 8-gram increase in fiber decreased cases of heart disease, diabetes, and colorectal cancer by 5% to 27%, per the report. 

You can follow @tim.spector on Instagram for more health tips.